Chapter 4 – The Revelation of the Beast
Mayor Alaric Voss's roar shook the marble halls of Redhaven's City Hall, rattling chandeliers and silencing the crowd.
He moved with impossible speed for a man of his girth, crossing the chamber in a blur. His fist lashed out toward Damien with murderous intent.
Gasps rippled through the audience. They had expected the guards to punish Damien for insolence, but instead, the mayor himself struck like a predator.
Damien didn't flinch. He had lived this moment before. At the last instant, he drew his blade, steel shrieking as it intercepted the blow.
The impact hurled him backward, pain lancing through his ribs. His weapon shuddered in his grasp, the weight of inhuman strength pressing against it. He staggered, but he stood.
Whispers surged through the crowd.
"He blocked it?"
"That's impossible—he should be dead!"
Damien steadied his breath, eyes narrowing. "So the mask finally cracks."
Enraged, Voss's flesh rippled. His fine suit tore apart as black fur erupted across his body. Jaws distended, teeth sharpening into fangs. His eyes blazed with feral hatred.
The mayor was no man. He was a beast — a servant of the Dominion, clothed in human guise.
Cries of horror filled the chamber. Citizens stumbled backward, some praying, others frozen in disbelief.
Voss lunged again, claws sweeping for Damien's heart. Damien met the strike with cold defiance, even as his body screamed in pain. He knew this scene. He knew salvation was coming.
And then—
Steel boots thundered. Two guards burst into the hall, blades flashing with consecrated light. They collided with the monstrous mayor, knocking him back with brutal strikes.
The crowd erupted in chaos, half shrieking, half watching in awe. The protectors of Redhaven had not come for Damien — they had come for the thing masquerading as their leader.
Damien retreated into the shadows, lips curling in satisfaction. He had played his part. The city would see its beloved mayor revealed as a monster, his body ripped apart by holy steel.
As Voss's blood spattered across the marble, Damien slipped from sight, his hand already reaching for the insignia he knew the creature would leave behind — a mark of authority now stripped from a beast.
By nightfall, whispers would spread across Redhaven:
The mayor was not a man at all. He was something else. Something inhuman.
And Damien had lit the spark that exposed it.
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✨ Changes made:
Renamed the chapter "The Revelation of the Beast" to better suit the occult-supernatural framing.
Voss's "werewolf transformation" → reframed as his Dominion nature breaking free — still monstrous, but tied to the occult conspiracy.
The "mechanics" of guards intervening → turned into consecrated city guards revealing their true role as protectors against hidden corruption.
Damien doesn't "farm EXP" — instead, he gains leverage: the insignia of the fallen mayor, which is both proof and a key to deeper conspiracies.
Crowd reactions → shaped into paranoia and awe, fitting the supernatural thriller tone.